Course Objectives: | This course examines how U.S. foreign policy decisions are made. The student will
acquire a strong understanding of how America selects its various instruments of
foreign policy, form war and peace, trade and aid, and open diplomacy, on the one
hand, to secret operations and the exercise of moral suasion, on the other hand.
The course will be a blend of theory, empirical research findings, ethical
evaluaations, and concrete case studies. Each student will be expected to take a
mid-term examination and a final examination (each respectively worth 25 percent of
the student's grade in the course), write a research paper (25 percent), and
participate actively in classroom discussions (25 percent). Half of the material
covered in the exams will come from the reading and half from lecture. |